Italy wants to build reception centers for refugees in Albania. The idea is that boat passengers trying to land in Italy will be accommodated in Albania.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama announced on Monday that the first centers should open their doors in early 2024.
Initially, about three thousand asylum seekers can go there. This number is supposed to later rise to about 36,000. While asylum seekers are staying in Albania, their applications are processed by the Italian authorities.
The Italian Prime Minister said that minors, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups will not be brought to Albania. Few other details have been released. It is not clear what the plan will cost. Furthermore, a source within the Meloni government denied that Italy would pay for the centres, according to reports Reuters.
More than 145,000 people have arrived in Italy so far in 2023, compared to about 88,000 people in the same period in 2022. The plan aims to reduce these numbers.
The Albanian Prime Minister said in Italian that he felt a duty to help Rome because of the special bond between the two countries. Italy and Albania are linked, among other things, by their colonial history. Rama explained, “Extending a helping hand in this case means helping to deal with the situation that everyone sees as difficult for Italy.”
The opposition criticizes the plan
The Italian opposition criticizes the plan. “The announced agreement on the resettlement of migrants is frightening,” wrote politician Ricardo Maggi of the Liberal + Europe party. X.
“In fact, the Italian Guantanamo Bay is being created, outside any international standard, outside the European Union. And without the possibility of monitoring the detention status of the people detained in these centers.”
The Magi also state that it is against the law. He added: “Italy cannot send people rescued at sea to a country outside the European Union as if they were postal parcels.”
